


Learning Curve

by Willowanderer



Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Gen, Introspection, child too smart for his own damn good, mild violence
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-09
Updated: 2019-03-10
Packaged: 2019-11-14 05:52:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18046733
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Willowanderer/pseuds/Willowanderer
Summary: Angus McDonald would have had to be a much worse detective than he was to not notice that the way the Reclaimers talked and how they acted didn’t quite match up.





	1. Chapter 1

Angus McDonald would have had to be a much worse detective than he was to not notice that the way the Reclaimers talked and how they acted didn’t quite match up.

And he  _ was  _ a good detective. World’s Best, even if he had to say it himself. He didn’t need Taako’s questionable wisdom to know that talking yourself up was important. It wasn’t bragging, it was knowing his worth. 

 

It was nice at the Bureau of Balance; once he’d been inoculated and inducted, almost everyone simply accepted his competence. None of the jockeying and constantly proving himself that he’d had to do while working on cases on the surface. He was a Seeker, one of many and as good as any. Even if he was only ten. A runty looking ten at that. 

 

Angus couldn’t help the way he  _ looked  _ but he could help the way he  _ acted _ . He’d found back when he was six and breaking his first case (it wasn’t much of a case, in retrospect, but it had been exciting at the time) that if he acted more mature, people would listen to him. He’d cultivated a serious, if polite demeanor, and only acted like a child when it was useful. And it had been useful several times in his career. He wielded it like a weapon, like a shield, the same way he did his intelligence. He was good at blubbering on command, even though it messed up his glasses something fierce. Angus could still hit a target at the edge of his crossbow’s range with tears in his eyes. He’d even claimed to be younger than he was on occasion. No one ever questioned  _ that _ , though attempts to pretend to be older generally failed. People thought a crying child couldn’t really be listening. People who thought they were tough would say a lot of things to silence a blubbering child.  More people than would admit it would also use force to silence a blubbering child, but Angus had a surprising amount of hitpoints for his age. A useful thing for a boy detective. 

 

Because the BoB accepted that he was a brilliant detective even though he was a child, somehow treating him like both were true (which they were) it got easier to just let the little bits of childishness he felt show instead of stifling them for the sake of perceived competence. Laughter. Affection. Tears. He’d known of course that the Reclaimer’s job was dangerous- he’d seen first hand before he knew anything else about it. But he’d been so sure he could help that his own helplessness and worry for them overwhelmed him. Angus was so used to only crying when it was  _ useful.  _ He didn’t like this much. He’d almost started laughing through his tears when the Director had hesitantly slapped his cheek to stop them at Magnus’s insistence. He’d been slapped around by  _ experts _ . But the tears wouldn’t stop just yet, even though they turned to more relief than fear. He got himself under control. The mission wasn’t over yet, and he might still be useful. Angus might have almost gotten them killed before, but if reports were to be believed, that just made him part of the team. 

 

When they got back, it was very late, almost morning. Angus was so happy to see them safe and more or less sound. When Magnus did his trick, Angus tried to make a joke about it. After all, Magnus learning magic was patently ridiculous. No one seemed to notice, taking it at face value. A little frustrating, since the jokes  _ they  _ told were both stale and a little mean. But as he retreated so they couldn’t keep going (like the last time Angus had tried to play with kids his own age) Magnus said “Couldn’t have done it without you, Dangus.” and sleepy as he was, Angus filed it right along with all the other information he’d been gathering about how the Reclaimers talked to him, about him, and to everyone else. They talked like they didn’t like him, but they were nicer to him than they were a lot of other people, in ways that made it seem like they didn’t want him to notice.

 

Magnus’s japes and bullying seemed more rote than felt, like it was how he thought he should act around a kid. Like he couldn’t decide how he should act. Oddly enough, Taako’s sarcasm and aloofness were easier to read and understand. Taako was trying, maybe too hard to pretend he didn’t care. Taako might have been an accomplished liar, but he wasn't always good at it. Angus wasn’t sure who Taako was trying to lie to sometimes, himself or everyone else. 

 

He still wasn’t sure about Merle, but to be fair, he didn’t know if  _ Merle  _ was sure about how Merle felt about him. Merle was the only one that he thought  _ meant  _ the threats of violence- but at the same time, he was the one who tried the hardest not to swear in front of Angus. An interesting dichotomy. 

 

Angus wasn’t quite sure what to do with the information now that he had it. So he did what he always did when he needed more information to figure things out. He stored it for later. Neat lines of text in his notebook, waiting for a conclusion. He’d figure it out eventually. He always did.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Angus now has two favorite things. They both start with 'M'

Angus was in the library when Taako came in and got a lecture from the librarian about overdue books and dog earing library tomes. He didn’t seem particularly affected by the lecture, eyes drifting over shelves and tables, half lidded and bored. When the librarian finally gave up, he strolled over towards Angus casually.  Taako could be like a cat, so Angus pretended not to notice, focusing on the book of basic arcane exercises he’d been reading. Taako dropped bonelessly into the chair next to Angus and yanked the book out from under his hands to read the spine, one finger politely keeping the place. The Rude finger, Angus noted ironically. And when he put it down, he put it down closed, so the place was lost anyway. 

“So you pick a class yet, shortstack?” 

Angus shook his head, not sure why Taako was asking. 

“I mean, you don’t strike me as the fighter type; maybe rogue, get your sneaky on?”

“There’s a fine line between detectives and criminals, Sir.” Angus answered. “I’d like to stay on the side of it I’m on.” He didn’t say what side of it he was on. There were plenty of legal reasons to own lockpicks. 

“Fair enough, so magic right? How you doing on that?”

That was clearly the point of the conversation, given the book in front of Angus. His face felt hot. 

“I’m not, sir.”

“I mean, you’re what, like nine? That’s like a tenth of a human’s life right? You should know something by now. Cantrips or something.”

Angus didn’t bother correcting him, either on the age or how long humans lived. 

“I know what I don’t know, Sir.” 

“Huh” Taako drummed his long fingers on the handle of his umbrastaff thoughtfully. Angus focused on them, the rings on his fingers(mostly decorative), the elegant ovals of his nails(slightly glittery), the unusual shape of the staff itself(baffling).  

He sighed, and tried a smile at the wizard.

“It’s hard to learn just from books.”

“Heh. Tell me about it. At least you have the whole book.” It was said lightly, but with a feeling that was heavy. Truth then.  “But if this idiot wizard could do it, you could too.” 

Angus made a face. If that was true, he’d be casting spells already. Of course child wizards weren’t really a very common thing. Then again, neither were boy detectives. 

 

There  _ had  _ been that terrible crossover with the child wizard books. Caleb Cleveland and The Wizard’s Ward; not one of Angus’s favorites, since it had been a blatant attempt to coax readers into the second series. Which hadn’t been as well written. Angus always wondered if the author had been pressured into writing it. 

 

“Weeeeeellll….” the word was drawn out “Tell you what. Meet me in the cafeteria with a focus tomorrow after lunch. Least I can do is show you a couple cantrips.”

“Really sir?” Angus was shocked and touched. 

“Don’t make a big deal out of it, kid.” 

“I won’t sir.” he couldn’t help grinning from ear to ear though. In spite of himself Angus really liked Taako, even though his first encounter with the elf had ended up with Angus having to get his front teeth regrown.  He hopped down from the chair and picked up the book he’d been reading, so he could put it on the reshelving cart. “I’ll see you then.” 

“Don't tell anybody, Agnes. I’m a busy elf.”

“No sir.” 

 

Angus had been concerned that a spell focus counted as a magical artifact. Needing to go down to the surface to acquire a wand would complicate things. He had a gachapon token, but he wasn’t sure he wanted to trust in luck to get what he needed; which was part of the reason he hadn’t used it already. But while he knew that sometimes it could hurt to ask questions, it had never yet hurt at the BoB. So he asked Leon where the line was. Leon was thrilled to talk artifacts. No one was as obnoxious as the Reclaimers, but no one really wanted to chat, either.  Wands, it turned out, were a difficult grey area.  _ Really good _ wands and staffs, like the Umbrastaff, or the Director’s White Oak, were considered magical artifacts and couldn’t be bought, sold or given.  Simple wands were more like high quality magic components, not really anything without the magic being channeled through them- but at the same time,  _ could  _ be grouped with magical artifacts, because the materials made the channeling easier. About to leave, to maybe see if the further grey area of Fantasy Costco had something, Leon stopped him. If Angus could do him a favor, Leon would do him a favor. And the gnome  _ winked.  _  Angus was pretty sure that was at least a little outside the spirit of the rules the Bureau had laid down. But he wasn't going to tell if Leon wasn’t. 

 

Angus had half expected the magic lessons to be some sort of elaborate set up to a joke. Which wasn’t really like Taako- Takko’s brand of humor was as off the cuff as it was casually mean- but not outside the realm of possibility. But he was  _ there. _ In fact he was  _ waiting for him. _ Angus was practically walking on air. He was bubbling with excitement. He was… probably over enthusiastic, judging from the expression on Taako’s face, and the cant of his ears. Too late now. 

 

Angus loved it. Magic didn’t come easy for him, but now that Taako was showing him, it came. His magic lessons became the highlight of his week, teasing and all. He might have worked a little bit harder with the hope that Taako would say something nice without sticking a dig in it. He loved that Taako was teaching him, but he wasn’t sure what the wizard was getting out of it. And it was Taako. He had to be getting  _ something _ out of it, or he wouldn’t be doing it.  Gifting something back did not work. At all. Maybe if he solved the mystery of L-U-P it would be a start, but for now he didn’t seem to be able to do anything for Taako. 

 

So Angus felt a little better when he heard Taako begging off training with his team mates with a

“Completely forgot, it’s the kid’s lesson today, don't want to make the little guy cry, you know. I’ll get the next one.”

It wasn’t, their paths had crossed randomly on the quad, but Taako still gave him a lesson, stating it was preferable to having Magnus dropped on him. 

 

And despite his jokes about destroying Angus if he got more powerful than him, Taako let him read his spell notes, some of which were bogglingly scribbled into the margins of a book ‘The Seven Habits of Highly Effective Elves’. It looked random at first, but Angus soon worked out the organization system, which was linked to the chapters of the books. Of course, some of the actual text was edited in red pen in Taako’s looping handwriting. One chapter heading had been removed entirely, replaced with ‘Everything in this Chapter is Fucking Stupid’. The notes in that chapter had nothing to do with magic, and Angus had to wonder what ‘soured cream!?!’ meant. 

 

Taako was full of mysteries. Maybe that’s why he liked him so much. 

**Author's Note:**

> I have lots of thoughts and feelings about Angus


End file.
